


Tony has a thing for beauty

by Dhae



Category: NCIS
Genre: Episode: s01e02 Hung Out to Dry, M/M, Missing Scene, Pre-Slash, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2015-02-18
Packaged: 2018-03-13 16:06:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3387938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dhae/pseuds/Dhae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony gets his first look at Gibbs' boat, and reaches a few conclusions</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tony has a thing for beauty

Tony has a thing for beauty. According to his mother, he's always had it; according to oh-so-many girlfriends, he's never lost it.   
  
He just never knew...  
  
It's the first time he's in Gibbs' basement. He stayed over once before, but Gibbs made it very clear that his basement was off-limits. So it's with a little bit of fear in his mouth Tony dares enter Gibbs' sacred ground. The air tastes like sawdust, fresh and old all blended together. The light stretches, from blinding to near-black shadows, and Gibbs moves around soundlessly, winking in and out of existence like a ghost.  
  
And in the middle of it all, literally, the center of the basement is something so incongruous, so out of place that Tony _has_ to ask - even knowing the answer.  
  
"Is this a boat?"  
  
Gibbs' glare is wholly deserved, because that _was_ a stupid question.  
  
Tony lets their banter and the information he has for Gibbs run on auto-pilot, his attention on the basement, on the complex puzzle that is Gibbs, which he's tried to put together since he met the man. Yeah, he's aware that he'll probably never have all the pieces; but this basement, the boat, the murdered phones - they're all new and strange pieces.  
  
But the boat... the skeleton of the boat... that's too big, too important to let go of. There's something about Gibbs building a _boat_ in his _basement_ , of all things, that seems really important, although Tony can't even figure out _why_.   
  
"You know, my dad gave me a power-sander for my birthday. I don’t really power-sand much. You’re welcome to it."  
  
Tony's talking to be talking, and Gibbs... Gibbs almost growls; insulted in a way Tony hadn't expected.  
  
"Except for that bare bulb there and the cord going to that idiot box, you see a power cord around here anywhere?"  
  
Tony looks around, instinctively, because it isn't like he doesn't _trust_ Gibbs. So... no power-tools. Tony won't even _pretend_ to get that one; just seems like a damn waste of time and effort, when it could all be done so much faster with a little power and some decent tools.   
  
Trying to figure it out - and because Tony likes to _touch_ things, he runs a hand over one of the wooden ribs. His brain doesn't register it at first, but his body reacts like it always does, slowing his hand, gentling the touch into a caress, because the wood under his fingers is smooth, like the inside of a woman's thigh; and suddenly Tony gets why a power-sander would be an atrocity against the wood.  
  
"You use hand tools, huh?" he asks quietly, and totally deserves it, when Gibbs' voice rumbles across the room.  
  
"I use my hands."  
  
And that, right there, is a big chunk of the Gibbs-puzzle falling into perfect focus. The physical effort, the intimacy of man and wood, the sensuality of running your hands over something you _own_ ; something you _created_. Yeah. Tony gets that. It's like sex, and Tony _gets_ sex.   
  
More than that, though; this is _private_ Gibbs, and Tony wants _in_ , wants to be a part of it. Wants to watch Gibbs pit hand-tools and callused hands against wood. Wants to do it himself, sanding and sanding and sanding for hours, until the finish is _that_ smooth. Most of all, though; he wants to be allowed _this_ part of Gibbs, to have a standing invitation to this basement, to Gibbs' boat.   
  
He's going to work for it; but as Gibbs turns out the light, leaving Tony in the hot, black basement, drowning in the smell of sawdust and freshly sanded wood, he knows it's going to take time.   
  
Gibbs isn't ready to let anyone in, just yet.


End file.
